High-risk pedophile accused of killing 67-year-old at Kent Institution, a man who spent most of his last half-century behind bars

Philipe Ovid Poisson, 33, charged with July 18, 2024 manslaughter of Dennis James Harley at B.C.'s only maximum security institution

A high-risk pedophile from the U.S. accused of killing a 67-year-old man at Kent Institution last summer had a brief court appearance Tuesday.

Philipe Ovid Poisson is charged with one count of manslaughter for the death of Dennis James Harley at Kent on July 18, 2024.

Both men have sordid criminal histories in British Columbia and both have spent the vast majority of their adult lives behind bars.

The Correctional Service Canada (CSC) issued a brief statement about Harley’s killling on July 26, 2024, saying only that he died in custody, his death would be reviewed, police and the coroner were notified as per policy, and included were a list of his most recent offences.

Poisson appeared via video in Chilliwack provincial court on April 22, 2025, from behind bars. His lawyer Jenna Paik told the court his case was set for a resolution rather than going to trial, which implies that he is pleading guilty to the charge or a deal is pending between he and Crown. She told Judge Peter Whyte said they were applying to have a change of venue for the case due to a medical condition, which was not further explained.

Poisson appeared on video wearing standard prison-issue orange jumpsuit. He had mid-length brown hair and a brown moustache.

A Canadian citizen, Poisson is originally from Pennsylvania. In July 2010, Mounties issued a public safety bulletin about him as a high-risk pedophile who moved to Penticton.

In January 2011, he was involved in an altercation where he smashed some of his belonging and windows. He fled and did not return to the residence where he was required to live. He then checked into Covenant House in Vancouver, but he hadn’t told his supervisor he was moving or leaving Penticton.

“He is from Pennsylvania and he was hoping to be able to go back and hook up with his mother again,” defence lawyer Jim Pennington said, quoted in a Black Press article from Feb. 15, 2011. “He received some advice from a source we will not name that what he should do is go to the coast, obtain ID and get back to the States. He then acted on that bad advice.”

At the good old hockey game

Two years after that, in February 2013, the Junior A Dryden Ice Dogs hit the ice for a game in the Superior International Junior Hockey League at Dryden Memorial Arena in that small town in northern Ontario.

Some parents with children present noticed a man acting suspicously and making inappropriate comments at the rink. In a town of fewer than 5,000 people, most everyone knows everyone, especially at the rink. A stranger in a small town acting strangely led to the cops being called. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers showed up to find the 21-year-old Poisson who gave them a fake name and birth date. He also threatened to kill them.

Poisson was wanted on a Canadawide warrant at the time and was charged with five counts of failure to comply, obstructing a police officer, and uttering threats. 

A half century behind bars

At the time of his death, 67-year-old Dennis Harley was serving a 19-year sentence for criminal harassment, identity fraud, public mischief, and 10 counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, among other convictions.

Harley spent most of the prior 46 years behind bars since his first federal offence in 1978.

Nineteen years sounds like too long for the above crimes, but that’s because most of that time was added due to offences he committed while behind bars. His criminal history out of custody included setting fire to curtains in a courtroom, setting mattresses on fire in a hostel, and setting fire to sofas on two different verandas of residences “belonging to people who you indicated had been mean to you in the past,” according to his final failed Parole Board of Canada review.

The 19-year sentence CSC referenced in the 2024 release began with a three-year term  in 2010. Since then he committed numerous offences of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.

“Your index offending involved sending threatening letters to victims, some of whom you met through chaplaincy while incarcerated, others were judges, Members of Parliament, police forces, parole officers, and other government officials/staff you have been in contact with," the parole board decision reads.

"Letters have included graphic details, threats to harm/kill the recipients and/or damage property, threats to bomb a house and a courthouse, they were intended to intimidate victims, and you attempted to circumvent security screening. You signed another inmate's name to one of the threatening letters."

Poisson is next scheduled to appear in court on May 13, 2025, via video to face the manslaughter charge.

-30-

Paul J. Henderson
pauljhenderson@gmail.com
facebook.com/PaulJHendersonJournalist
instagram.com/wordsarehard_pjh
x.com/PeeJayAitch
wordsarehard-pjh.bsky.social